40G STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



THE DISCUSSION ON THE BEET Sl'GAR INDl'STKY IX MICH- 

 IGAN BROUGHT DOAYN TO DATE. 



Secretary Bird lias invited lue to coiitrlbulL' au artit-lc on our sugar 

 beet industry, bringing the discussion down to the opening of the 

 beet sugar campaign of 1901. The subject is so important to our peo- 

 ple and the interests involved are so wide reaching, that I have con- 

 sented to contribute what 1 could to the satisfactory solution of this in- 

 dustrial question. It seems to me that the fairest way to close this sub- 

 ject for the time would be to quote the articles that have been published 

 in the public press, and the replies that have appeared in opposition. I 

 make no apology therefore for placing these articles in a body before the 

 public. A strong effort will be made in the near future by forced com- 

 petition, by legislation and other means, to crush a promising indu'stry, 

 and the public need to be awake to the danger which threatens them. 



BENEFITS THE FARMER THE MOST. 



[From Detroit Free Press, Oct. 11, 1901.] 



IMPOSSIBLE TO FORM TRUST IX THIS BUSINESS.— GROWER IS THE 



KEYSTONE IN THE SACCHARINE STRUCTURE.— REFINERS 



MAKING DESPERATE EFFORTS TO TOPPLE IT, ilAINLY 



BECAUSE MICHIGAN PRODUCT GOES DIRECT 



TO THE CONSUMER. 



ANALYSIS OF BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY, BY PROF. KEDZIE. 

 To the Editor of the Free Press: 



Certain industries in Michigan have produced large wealth, of which 

 the farmers have received only a small part. Lumbering has made a 

 large ciass of millionaires, while the farmer and teamster received 

 onlv oidinarv wages. The salt industrv has made fortunes for manv, 

 but the only decided benefit to the farmer was the reduction in the 

 price of his salt. The discovery of large deposits of coal will mainly 

 benefit speculators who buy options on farms where coal is likely to 

 be deveio])ed and the land owner will get the smallest share. Specula- 

 tors bought up the pine lands and capitalists developed the salt in- 

 dustry; the salt trust took possession of the market and the coal trust 

 bids fair to take the larger share of the profit into its hands and dictate 

 prices for the public. Thus the owners of these sources of wealth are 

 pushed aside and others reap the profits. It is natural that capital, 

 energ}- and business capacity should receive a large part of the profits, 

 and complaint is not made on this account. 



